Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:35:15 EDT
Reply-To: RAlanen@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Frank Condelli <RAlanen@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Calling all solar gurus
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
In a message dated 28/06/2009 2:05:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:
You need more info on the fridge. You need a better more powerful
output panel. You will need a battery to store energy for the night. You
will then need a controller. The solar panel will not run the fridge but
charge a battery which is running the fridge. So, the solar panel must
keep up with the power use during the day or whenever the sun is shining on it
plus keep the battery fully charged so it has full capacity when the solar
quits working, when the sun goes down. Older solar panels will not
produce much power in low light, newer technology panels will produce power even
in moonlight. You will pay more for this advantage. Dirty panels will
produce less than clean ones so bigger is better unless you want to clean it
every morning, could be a problem if mounted up on the roof. Panels can be
fragile or indestructible, you will pay more for ones that are
indestructible, glass panels will break if hit with let's say a coconut, camping on the
beaches of Mexico for example. AND, remember the sun does not shine
everyday even in MEXICO ! Well, on the Pacific coast between November and
April it does a dam good job of shining every day. So.......you need to do a
lot of homework then a lot of searching to find the best panel for your
needs that fit your budget, not easily accomplished. See here what I have and
have used for two years now. _Vanagon Westfalia Solar Panel_
(http://frankcondelli.com/solar.htm) Works fine for me but is on the fine edge of
not working mostly because the battery I'm using does not have enough
storage capacity and when in low light levels does not produce much power, panel
is old technology, hence the cheap price I paid.
>>>>Calling all solar gurus<<<<<
Cheers,
Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 Westy & Lionel Trains (_Collection for sale_
(http://frankcondelli.com/trainsal.htm) )
_Frank Condelli & Associates_ (http://frankcondelli.com/busindex.html) -
Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
_Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems_
(http://frankcondelli.com/exhaust.htm)
_BusFusion_ (http://www.busfusion.com/) a VW Camper camping event,
Almonte, ON, June 11 ~ 14, 2009
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